Transformative Homes with Mitchell Thompson Interiors

Design Disasters: Avoiding Common Renovation Pitfalls

• Roy & Diane Mitchell • Episode 6

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What Are The Biggest Mistakes Homeowners Make When Redesigning Their Space?

Ever purchased a stunning piece of furniture only to discover it completely overwhelms your space once delivered? You're not alone. Redesigning your home should be exciting, not frustrating—yet many homeowners find themselves trapped in avoidable design pitfalls that leave them disappointed with the results.

In this enlightening conversation, veteran interior designers Roy and Diane Mitchell draw from their 50+ years of combined expertise to reveal the most common mistakes people make when reimagining their living spaces. They share candid insights about why that sectional sofa that looked perfect in the store now dominates your living room ("The store's 120,000 square feet with 30-foot ceilings"), and how scattered inspiration sources often lead to disconnected design choices.

The pair dives deep into the professional designer's toolkit, explaining how trained experts approach balance, scale, and texture in ways that transform ordinary spaces into cohesive, beautiful environments. You'll discover why certain fabrics feel inappropriate in different seasons, how proper lighting placement makes or breaks a design, and why "blending texture is not for the faint of heart." Their practical wisdom extends to avoiding impulse purchases, with Roy and Diane sharing how they guide clients toward making confident decisions that express their authentic style while maintaining design integrity.

Ready to transform your home with professional insight? Visit MitchellThompsonInteriors.com to schedule your complimentary 30-minute discovery call and begin the journey toward a space that truly reflects your unique vision and lifestyle needs.

To learn more about Mitchell Thompson Interiors visit:
http://www.MitchellThompsonInteriors.com
Mitchell Thompson Interiors

Speaker 1:

Welcome to Transformative Homes with Mitchell Thompson Interiors. Join hosts Roy and Diane Mitchell, the creative force behind Mitchell Thompson Interiors, who together bring over 50 years of expertise of residential interior design across the US. Are you navigating a major life transition, upsizing or downsizing your home, purchasing a vacation home or redefining your space? You've found the team to guide you so your home truly reflects your unique dreams. Stay tuned and learn how to schedule a complimentary 30-minute discovery call. Let's delve into today's topic.

Speaker 2:

Redesigning your home should be exciting, not overwhelming. Yet too often, homeowners fall into avoidable traps that leave them frustrated or unsatisfied. Welcome back everyone. I'm Sophia Yvette, co-host, slash producer, back in the studio with Roy and Diane Mitchell, owners of Mitchell Thompson Interiors. Roy and Diane Mitchell. Owners of Mitchell Thompson Interiors. Roy and Diane. How's it going today?

Speaker 3:

Awesome. How are you, hi, sophia?

Speaker 2:

Hi doing good. So that is great to hear, roy and Diane. Everyone wants to know what are the biggest mistakes homeowners make when redesigning their space.

Speaker 4:

Well, sophia when we have a client, it's not their first foray into thinking about their space.

Speaker 4:

Let's take, for example, a family who's moving, maybe into a larger home, they're upsizing from a three to a four bedroom and maybe they have a little more outdoor space for the family and they also are looking for an open concept home.

Speaker 4:

So you know, with the plethora of resources that are available online, out and about shopping, going into your neighbor's homes, model homes, you know there is just so much to look at and take in and homeowners often will find themselves kind of scattered all over a map of not really knowing what they truly love, also what they really need for this new space and how to bring that all together with their existing furnishings that they want to keep. Because nobody, or at least not very often, starts over from scratch and just pitches everything that you don't get caught up in one piece, that you buy in a vacuum and then you're not really sure what to do around it. And the other thing is that you can really take the time to step through the whole home and think about the use and the space and how the family is going to live in this new place and develop a vision that addresses everybody's needs and what the family themselves truly want to live with and enjoy.

Speaker 3:

But I think the other thing is, as the client is looking around and they go to store to store and they may see a sectional and they don't really realize how big that sectional is comparable to their house and they purchase it and they get it in their house and they have to build on to the next room it's massive.

Speaker 3:

It's massive or they're sending it back or the colors are all wrong. There could be florals, there could be stripes and doesn't go along with what they have and the colors of the walls, and it's a nightmare for them when they look at the space and, like my goodness, it looks so small in the store. Well, the store's 120,000 square feet with 30-foot ceilings.

Speaker 4:

Yeah.

Speaker 3:

Yeah.

Speaker 4:

Yeah, I think that scale is one of the biggest issues, and then the other piece of it that you really need a trained eye for is how to balance a room.

Speaker 4:

And we balance in terms of high contrast, low contrast, middle contrast. Lighting is hugely important in the way that a project turns out. The planning of a floor receptacle, because we have so many floating furnishing arrangements now that you can't plug in a lamp to a wall, and so those types of things need to be taken into account. Like I was speaking about the balance, you know even the color balance and the pattern balance is really important in where you put your color and how you make it so pleasing to the eye when you walk in that you don't really see just one thing, you just see a beautiful canvas.

Speaker 2:

Now on the note of color, I would assume that mixing textures is also something that takes considerable skill.

Speaker 4:

Absolutely, and textures are interesting also based on where you live People who have high contrast seasons of change where you've got really deep cold winters and then really hot summers. Those textures, like if you put some kind of a cut velvet onto a chair, that really doesn't look so good in the middle of July when it's 95 degrees outside, you know. And then same thing in the winter. If you have a cotton ticking on a chair, then that doesn't feel so great in the winter when it's 30 degrees or less and you've got the fireplace on, and so those are things we need to take into account, and blending texture is also is not for the faint of heart. It takes a lot of detailed viewing and you need to look at a lot of different patterns and textures and colors together to get the right balance.

Speaker 3:

It takes a lot of skill.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, most definitely. Now final question for you today how do you help clients avoid getting caught up in an impulse purchase?

Speaker 4:

It's kind of funny. The first thing that popped into my mind is after working with a client for I mean, it can be a few weeks, it can be a month or two they start to rely on our expertise. They may see something, but they'll run it by us first, or they'll. I mean, we've even had clients say I'm afraid to do anything without your approval now, and you know that's the good thing. But we want people to have those impulses and be drawn to things, because that allows us to help them see what they really love and we can talk through well, what is it that you love about that piece? And maybe that's not exactly the right one, but we can get something similar into the mix of the room but it was a piece of art.

Speaker 3:

And this gentleman, a client that we were working with, decides to put a light over a light, sconce, art, sconce over a piece of art. But it was so teeny. He liked the look and we loved the look, but he just went about it all wrong. It should have been a larger sconce, to go over it. A lot of times people can't imagine scale over a piece that should have been larger.

Speaker 2:

Good example. Thank you for that informative and helpful information you gave us today. We'll catch you on the next episode. Have a fantastic rest of your day. Thank you for that informative and helpful information you gave us today. We'll catch you on the next episode. Have a fantastic rest of your day.

Speaker 3:

Thank you. Bye, sophia, bye.

Speaker 1:

Thanks for tuning in. That's a wrap on this episode of Transformative Homes. Are you ready to begin the journey toward elevating your home and lifestyle? Visit MitchellThompsonInteriorscom and schedule your complimentary 30-minute discovery. Call Roy and Diane will explore making your vision your reality. Join us for the next episode as we continue discussing elevated lifestyles through the lens of interior design. One unique and exquisite home at a time.